Letters: wildfire lessons, Lance Armstrong, Iran and more

Applying lessons learned from 2007 wildfire

In response to “Five years after the Witch Creek fire” and “Tell us about it,” (Oct. 20): Five years ago this week, our region was in the grip of disaster. The Witch Creek and Harris wildfires and other major blazes in October 2007 ended lives, decimated communities and forced many of us to temporarily flee our homes.

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Are we better prepared today for a major wildfire? The answer is clearly yes!

Since 2007, my colleagues and I on the board of supervisors have spent $130 million on improvements that include better firefighting equipment and 24/7 coverage at nearly 50 backcountry fire stations for faster response time to fire and medical emergencies. We created the San Diego County Fire Authority to consolidate agencies and coordinate wildfire protection across 1.5 million rural acres. We are also giving residents more tools to help in a disaster, like our new smartphone app “SD Emergency.”

Those improvements are part of the more than $250 million the county has spent on fire-related protection since a series of massive firestorms nine years ago. We created a reverse 911 evacuation system, beefed up our air and ground resources, opened a state-of-the-art Emergency Operations Center and removed 500,000-plus dead trees from the region. The list goes on.

This doesn’t mean we won’t have more catastrophic blazes. We live in wildfire country, after all. What it does mean is that we continue to find ways to make our citizens and structures safer when fire does hit. – Dianne Jacob, San Diego County supervisor, District 2

Armstrong’s story transcends titles

While Lance Armstrong’s winning (and now losing) seven Tour de France titles (Oct. 23) rates right up there with any newsworthy event, the real accomplishment of this man is his LiveStrong foundation.

Prior to last Friday I had zero understanding of what the foundation was about. But then I worked and attended his 15th annual Ride for the Roses in Austin, Texas. I supported a pharmaceutical company’s booth, handing out literature on their drug and listening to testimonials from people whose lives were unequivocally saved by this drug. The distance in space from me to them was just a tabletop, but the difference in life perspective was beyond measure, and every person I met was OK with their plight, willing to talk about it, and certainly willing to fight for their life.

Forty-three hundred people attended this bike ride and all were either patients, survivors or friends and family of members honoring their fallen and raising dollars to cure this beast. What was acknowledged the most by the survivors was Mr. Armstrong’s success in removing the stigma of the disease and engendering the fighting attitude in each of them. T-shirts with “Cancer Sucks,” “Pick a Fight” and “Not Dead Yet” were everywhere, and I came straight home and hugged my family. I suggest you do the same and don’t worry about a French bike race. – Robb Huff, Coronado

Don’t undermine diplomacy with Iran

In response to “Going face to face” (Oct. 23): War is not the answer to the conflict between the U.S. and Iran. While in the debate I was glad to hear talk about peaceful resolution of the conflict between the U.S. and Iran, I’m concerned that Congress could undermine diplomacy. I hope Senators Boxer and Feinstein will speak out on the Senate floor in support of diplomacy to prevent war and a nuclear-armed Iran and oppose any legislation that puts roadblocks in the way of diplomacy. – Alessandra Colfi, Oceanside

'Mystery' money and Prop. 32

After the news last week that a “mystery” group from Arizona was donating $11 million dollars to the fight for Prop. 32, I felt I needed to speak up. This continues the stream of big donors pouring money into a ballot initiative aimed at silencing political participation among the middle class. I hope California voters see through the claims of proponents of Prop. 32 and understand that if Prop. 32 passes we won’t be making politics free of special interests. While unions would have a reduced voice, the likes of the Koch brothers, the Mungers and this Arizona group will continue to have free reign to spend over $60 million, like they have in this election, to influence the political process.

The unions opposing this measure aren’t asking for a level playing field – that has long since passed us by with the advent of super PACs that can raise and spend in unlimited fashion (to the tune of $15 for ever $1 spent by unions). What we are asking for is to be allowed to stay in the ballgame.

You may not agree with everything unions fight for, but at least you know what we stand for. We want to pass Prop. 30 and avoid horrific midyear budget cuts that will shorten the school year for millions of schoolchildren in our state and we want to stop a targeted power grab by defeating Prop. 32. That is our agenda, clear and simple.

How much do voters know about the agenda of the Koch brothers, Charles Munger and the Arizona-based Americans for Responsible Leadership? – Randy M. Cambou, teacher and union member, San Diego

No automatic citizenship

The long-standing core makeup of the United States citizenry has been usurped by “amnesty,” and by allowing a couple [of] generations of illegal immigrants to have citizenship automatically conferred on their offspring born in this country. The result is to fundamentally take over the state and federal governments in the short time span of 30 to 40 years. “Voters,” who in most other countries would not have been allowed to become “born” citizens, are then electing representatives to local, regional, and national positions. Sadly, we have our foolish selfish selves to blame.

Today, the party in power panders to get the Hispanic vote. Yesterday, businesses got the ball rolling by seeking cheap illegal labor. It seems that The END justifying the MEANS is never far away.

It is not too late to reclaim our country. But we must act soon to eliminate this wrongheaded policy that confers automatic citizenship on children of illegals born in this country. – Barry Bongers, San Diego

Follow Uruguay’s example

“Legalized marijuana, abortion: democracy ‘the Uruguayan way’ ” discusses how the president and Congress in Uruguay, with the support of the most highly educated people in Latin America, has decided to legalize, tax and control the manufacture, distribution and usage of marijuana, as a way to drive drug traffickers out of business.

This revenue-generating, nonviolent, common-sense way of avoiding the creation of a police state to shut down the drug cartels is a lesson the U.S. could learn from and adopt after wasting vast sums of taxpayers’ money over the last 40 years in our failed “war on drugs.” – David White, Carlsbad

Fee was too steep

“Hearst Castle waived fees for politically connected” (Oct. 22) included a photo of the castle. I am co-author of “Women Trailblazers of California,” a book that highlights the contributions of women to our state and includes a profile of Julia Morgan, architect of Hearst Castle. The castle’s museum director requires a permit to publish a photo, and “the photographer (or the organization s/he represents) must provide $1 million liability insurance.” Because of the prohibitive costs, the book does not include an image of the castle.

Hearst Castle is part of the California State Park system. As a taxpayer, I fail to understand why it is necessary to seek permission and pay an exorbitant fee for publication of a photo of the castle. Perhaps the fee would have been waived if I were “politically connected.” – Gloria G. Harris, La Jolla

Labeling food is not expensive

Proposition 37 is a classic example of a grass-roots effort being cleverly spin-doctored by deep-pocket corporate goliaths: Monsanto, ConAgra, DuPont, Cargill, General Mills, Hershey, Kellogg, Kraft, Nestlé and more. These corporations claim labels should be “factual and reliable.” Then why don’t they voluntarily list the GMOs in their own products? Why are they spending millions in TV ads and fliers filled with lies about Prop. 37? Because people know GMOs have health and safety risks. Europe bans many and labels the rest. Sixty countries label them! It’s not expensive. It works. Monsanto and friends are fighting so hard because they know that consumers will stop buying this stuff if it’s labeled. Proposition 37 is a carefully written first step in the process of eventually labeling all GMOs so Californians can have the information they need to make their own healthy choices.

Close park bridge, moved planned garage

In response to “Start of Balboa Park remodel delayed until 2013 (Local, Oct. 22): As I read the article about the legal challenge to the construction of the bypass bridge in Balboa Park and the need to reroute utilities for that project, I wonder why the city doesn’t just close the Laurel Street bridge to cars and make the entrance to the planned new parking garage off Park Avenue. It certainly would be much less expensive with less interference in the park. That way the bridge could be enhanced for pedestrian use only, and the park center plan could be carried out as planned.

If this were done, the Save Our Heritage Organisation wouldn’t have a case, and a lot of money would be saved in legal fees, as well as an enhanced look of the park from the 6th Avenue side. – Winfield A. Dean, Spring Valley

Yoga based in religion

I can’t believe the audacity that Matthew T. Hall suggests in his article (“Elementary yoga poses no threat to religion,” Local, Oct. 21), that yoga is not religious indoctrination. When Transcendental Meditation (one form of yoga) fell flat as the “Spiritual Regeneration Movement,” Maharishi Mahesh Yogi changed its name to “The Science of Creative Intelligence.” With that new and deceitful name, it has become a success worldwide. It is one of the most ancient religious practices of Hinduism and Buddhism, which has now become widely accepted in the West as the “Science of Yoga.”

“There is a growing missionary spirit in Hinduism, a small army of Yoga missionaries is ready to go the West. They may not call themselves Hindu, but Hindus know where yoga came from and where it goes,” is a quote from an editorial in Hinduism Today titled “An open Letter to Evangelicals,” by its editor, Reverend Palaniswami, a Hindu monk.

Individuals like Matthew Hall all protest that they are teaching the science of yoga, health, etc., not religion. This is totally a lie. Yoga and other seemingly harmless practices are mysticism, plain and simple, no matter how innocent they may wish you to think otherwise. Parents are justified and wise to protest this in public schools. – G.C. Hardin, San Diego